Hot, Hot NYC

[astrotoy]

We were in NYC last week for a few days on our way to Europe. Was it HOT! How hot was it? Our taxi driver from the airport on Saturday night said it was really hot. He was from Bangladesh! We went to a very nice concert on Sunday afternoon on a barge anchored just off the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge (bargemusic.com). It was enclosed with marginal A/C, given the 90+ F temp and 50%+ humidity. The violinist Mark Peskanov was wearing a short sleeve shirt. By the intermisson, he was thoroughly soaked and was in another shirt after the intermission. I talked to the cellist, Robert DeMaine (principal of the LA Philharmonic) at intermission. I asked him about the heat and humidity effects on his cello. He said that he was protecting his 1680 something Strad and put it back in its case during the intermission.

We're now basking in the low '70's in London. :-)

Larry

[Bill Hart]

Last Saturday was a beast in NY metro. Temps north of the city were in the 94-98 degree F range, but with the humidity, it was real feel of 112-116. We are normally a little cooler where we are, north of the city, near the Hudson, lot's of trees 'n stuff, but it was just brutal. There were certainly days I remember when the measured temp in Manhattan exceeded 100 degrees F, but this felt hotter. The weather here has been pretty volatile for the past couple weeks, almost tropical, with thunder storms periodically in the late afternoon and evening.
I remember the barge music thing. We used to live in Brooklyn Heights the neighborhood up the hill. Back then, the area where the barge was located was pretty desolate, apart from the River Cafe and a couple of other spots and apartment buildings- mostly old warehouses. Now, it is DUMBO, and very chic. We left Brooklyn when you still had to apologize for living there- but I loved it- far more funky than Manhattan, great food- from Italian to Jamaican, some cool vestiges of the old NY, including Gage & Tollner, a throwback to the gaslit era of NY. Don't really get to Brooklyn much anymore, though we head out tomorrow early for a day of record shopping in Neu Brooklyne- I have a visiting record geek from NOLA here- he's used to nasty hot, humid weather so this is almost a break for him.
Enjoy London. I've always found that city fascinating, but I think it has become way more interesting in the last twenty years or so. Ever go to Ronnie Scott's?

[tom_hankins]

Its been brutal in Reston va. this summer too. Heat index when we got to Lyle lovett concert at Wolftrap was 108, temperature 97. Almost as bad for Wynton marsalis friday. Nice today though.